Billy Mays - Career

Career

On the Atlantic City boardwalk Mays sold the Washmatik portable washing device to passersby, along with other "As Seen on TV" products. In Atlantic City, he was taught how to sell by the older salesmen, saying "I was taught to pitch by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have." Mays then traveled to home shows, auto shows, and state fairs across the United States for a period of twelve years, selling various maintenance products and tools, including cleaning products and food choppers.

At a Pittsburgh home show in 1993, Mays struck up a friendship with rival salesman Max Appel, founder of Orange Glo International, a Denver-based manufacturer of cleaning products. He was then hired by the company to promote their line of cleaners, OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo, and Kaboom, on the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida. That same year, also befriended another future pitchman, Anthony Sullivan. Customer response to Mays's sales pitches was enthusiastic, with a sharp increase in sales after his first day on the network, although some reviews were poor. He was very well known for shouting in an abrasive manner during infomercials. For example, Washington Post staff writer Frank Ahrens called him and other similar television salesmen "a full-volume pitchman, amped up like a candidate for a tranquilizer-gun takedown".

Although this was his debut appearance to the public, some consider his appearance in October 2000 to be his first commercial, shooting for the then 3 year-old Oxi Clean corporation. He would be a staple on the group, as well as the more common company at the time, OrangeGlo. Later on he would appear in Kaboom infomercials. During this period, Billy Mays became a popular icon for his loud pitch, and at times, was treated as a celebrity due to his popularity even though he never appeared in any movies or TV shows as other actors do.

Mays was the CEO and founder of Mays Promotions, Inc., based at his home in Odessa, Florida. His services as a pitchman became highly sought-after, and he appeared in commercials for many diverse "as seen on TV" products such as Mighty Putty. Mays claimed to be an avid user of the products he promoted. In December 2008, Mays began appearing in ads for ESPN's online service, ESPN360. These ads were a slight departure for Mays as they were designed to be parodies of his and other infomercial cliches with Mays appearing to be doing a parody of himself. He also made a live appearance during the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl promoting ESPN's and ABC's January 1, 2009, bowl games.

On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their jobs in direct-response marketing. After Mays's death, Discovery Channel aired a special Billy Mays tribute episode of PitchMen called "Pitchman: A Tribute to Billy Mays".

On March 27, 2009, Mays appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He and Sullivan also appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 23, 2009.

Prior to his death, Mays had signed a deal with Taco Bell to film infomercial-style commercials for the chain. Shooting was scheduled to begin in August 2009.